The first thing he felt was sand. Sand stuck to his face and his neck as he pushed himself up. Sand in his eyes, his mouth, his lungs as he was slapped in the face by a gust of wind. He had questions. Where was he? Blinking the sand from his eyes, he looked around, not recognizing the world he now inhabited. There were sand dunes as far as the eye could see, and to the right of him, a cave emerged from the dunes. Drowsy and disoriented, he stumbled toward the cave, seeking shelter from the unrelenting wind that sought to fill him up with sand. What was he doing here? He tried to remember what came before this. How he could've ended up in such a place. He was met with flashes of a painful memory, in which he felt his body being ripped apart. He stumbled at the sheer agony thinking about the memory brought. He tried to push these thoughts from his mind as they were distracting him from his goal of finding shelter. When he finally made it to the cave he collapsed in exhaustion. It took him several moments to regain any energy. He rolled over and leaned against the cave wall, his short break gave him time to inspect himself. On his feet were long socks, with tan sandals that were held on by a string that tied over his feet and around his ankles. He had cream colored pants that were loose around his legs, and held around his waist with a similar string to the one that tied his sandals to his feet. Finally he had on a grayish shirt, with sleeves going to his wrists. Why didn't he remember putting any of this on? These clothes surely weren't his? He rolled up his sleeves and nearly gasped in shock. His skin was what he could only describe as colorless. Like the life was drained out of him. So maybe he had died? Was this some sort of afterlife? He tried to rack his brain for answers, tried to remember a life before he ended up here, wherever here was. He felt pit form in his stomach, what was his name? It seemed like something he should remember. Why didn't he remember his name? The panic began to settle in, taking over his brain, his emotions. He wanted to flee, get far away from here, find something familiar, anything. He looked up, his eyes adjusting to the darkness in the cave. He then noticed it. A single sparkle of light, an ember almost. He got up, panic morphing into curiosity. The ember darted away from him when he got close, so he followed it. It illuminated the opposite cave wall, revealing etchings. It appeared to be a constellation, a collection of stars. Under it, words were inscribed in the stone.
"All are given breath by starlight." He spoke out loud, reading the stone. He was surprised at how hoarse his voice sounded. "The first of us are given joy knowing we are one day to return to the stars." He continued on, following the etchings along the cave. He huffed, taking in what it could've meant, before realizing he didn't exactly care. The ember suddenly zipped past him, going deeper into the cave. Some strange, brave, possibly stupid part of him, felt the need to follow it. So he did. He chased after the little light as it raced with increasing speed through the cave. Finally he saw an opening at the end of the cave, the same landscape he saw before, sandy and desolate. He barely gave it any thought as he raced out into the harsh winds after the little light. He followed it, sliding and stumbling down sand dunes, and scrambling up them with the desperation of a mad man. Maybe it would lead him to something- anything. Maybe some people? There seemed to be no sign of life. He peaked over the top of another dune, before getting smacked in the back by another strong gust of wind that sent him tumbling down the dune. At the bottom of the dune, he smacked his head into something wooden. Letting out a groan, he lifted his head up to look at what he hit. It seemed to be some sort of sailboat? Half of it was buried in sand. The remains of a tattered sail flapped uselessly in the wind. The little ember seemed to squeal at him. Somehow. The high pitched frequency hurt his ears, but did effectively gain his attention. He pulled himself up onto the deck of the sailboat, and walked to where the ember was hovering. The ember then floated down toward his feet. At his feet lay some sort of cape. It was brown and a bit tattered, and had little etchings of stars down the spine of it. The ember sunk down into one of the stars, lighting it up on the fabric. He marveled in curiosity and picked it up slowly, as if it might bite him. He huffed and swung it over his shoulders, fastening it around his neck with the small attached clip. The wind ripped him off of the boat, and seemed to catch underneath the cloak. He let out a shrill scream as he was whipped around through the air. He managed to right himself as best as he could while 80 feet up in the air. He then realized he wasn't hurtling to his death. Was he flying?! The cape must be some kind of magic, he resolved. It also gave him a good vantage point at the landscape. It wasn't endless desert like he previously thought. He could see a stone stair case, leading up into the clouds. He leaned forward in the air, hesitantly gliding toward the structure. He eventually realized he was losing momentum, and descending like he was on a glider of some sort. He landed in the sand a couple paces away from the stair case. It was not un-painful he noted as he grumbled and rubbed his shoulder. Hoping the stair case led somewhere that wasn't his death- or his second death if he already died- he bounded up the steps. He entered the clouds, feeling his clothes dampen at the effect, he also felt the cape thrum with life, revived. Suddenly the stairs dropped off , he couldn't see the ground or anything, just clouds underneath him. He had to stop very suddenly so he didn't walk off the edge. Why have a stair case lead to nothing? He looked up, his eyes widening as he realized what they were leading to. Through a hole in the clouds, he saw a floating island, with a magnificent, but ruined, castle sitting atop it. It was structured almost temple like, missing huge chunks from the walls in spots. The paintings and the carvings were deteriorating from what he could see. How could he get there though? It was far above him. He then grimaced as he got a terrible idea. He tugged on the edges of his cape nervously, taking a couple steps back on the step he was on. It was now or never. He rushed forward, jumping off the staircase as hard as he could. A scream was ripped from him as he began plummeting. Suddenly his cape caught wind and he began gliding. He wasn't falling anymore, but he wasn't going up. He shouted in frustration, trying to will it upwards. Suddenly the cloak flapped- like a pair of wings. He whooped in relief and pure joy, surely he was flying now? He leaned to the side, and nearly exploded in excitement as he seemed to be able to guide the cape where he wanted to go. He grabbed the sides of the cape with his hands and forced it open as far as he could, causing him to ascend quicker. He used his arms to guide its flapping and within no time he was sailing right towards the sky island. He overshot it however and flew far above the island. He then felt the cape go limp in his arms, and no amount of frantic flapping or leaning got it to work again. He was now accelerating toward the ground at frightening speeds. On the bright side he saw- people?! On the ground people were shouting and pointing at him. He groaned and braced himself for a painful landing. Next thing he remembered was blacking out.
YOU ARE READING
A Forgotten World
AdventureIn some other time, this world thrived with mythical creatures and shone with light. Now its dead, only forgotten memories linger around the world. Is restoration possible?